Championship
Brighton moved to the top of the table as goals from Solomon March and Bobby Zamora maintained their unbeaten start to the season against Gary Rowett’s Birmingham. March, the game’s outstanding performer, prodded home a Liam Rosenior cross to draw first blood in the clash of the Championship high flyers. Jon-Miquel Toral nodded the visitors level, but Zamora’s second goal in as many games, driven in from close range just after the break, was enough to make it 18 games undefeated for Chris Hughton’s side. Promotion dreams remain very much intact.
The result left Brighton two points clear of Middlesbrough, who moved into second spot after running out 2-0 winners at the John Smith’s Stadium. The defeat cast a pall over David Wagner’s first home match in charge of Huddersfield. His side lasted all of nine minutes before falling victim to the immutable law of the ex as embodied by the former Terriers midfielder Adam Clayton, who fired in a deflected effort. Nahki Wells subsequently struck the woodwork for the home side, but Emilio Nsue pounced six minutes from time to complete the win.
Burnley missed the chance to go fourth after they were forced to come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Cardiff. Not that Russell Slade’s men will be seeing it quite that way. With the home side leading through headed efforts from Aron Gunnarsson and Sean Morrison, a Cardiff win looked nailed on with five minutes left. Burnley, though, are a tough nut to crack this season, and when the German forward Rouwen Hennings struck, there was always a possibility the visitors might manage a ninth successive game unbeaten. Sure enough, Michael Keane popped up with a header in injury time, and the ball was deflected in off the Cardiff defender Matt Connolly.
Ipswich marked their lunchtime visit to the Valley with a 3-0 win in which Daryl Murphy was the standout player. The Republic of Ireland international, top scorer in the Championship last year, struck twice to take his season’s tally to six goals in three games. Freddie Sears rounded out the victory, driving home at the near post either side of a headed opener and a fine angled finish from Murphy. For Ipswich, a welcome boost in the quest for a top-six finish; for Charlton, who remain under the interim management of Karel Fraeye, a painful reminder of the lack of leadership and experience in their ranks, those recent wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham notwithstanding.
Murphy made a slow start to the season by his standards, going three months without making the scoresheet, but his recent form has offered a reminder of why he was the focus of summer transfer speculation. Sheffield Wednesday were reportedly among the clubs interested in the Ipswich man, and they could perhaps have done with a finisher of his prowess as they laboured to a 2-2 draw at Blackburn. A point adrift of the top six at the start of play, the Owls fell behind to a Hope Akpan header after just five minutes, but levelled through Modou Sougou with half-time approaching. They remained on equal terms for all of five minutes, the time it took for Corry Evans to fire in a deflected effort from the edge of the area, and in the end it needed an 84th-minute equaliser from Lucas Joao – who scored after coming off the bench for the fourth time this season – to salvage a point.
Struggling Rotherham boosted their Championship prospects with a 3-0 win over Bristol City. Having weathered early pressure from the visitors, Neil Redfearn’s men went ahead when Jonson Clarke-Harris curled home from the edge of the box. They doubled their advantage when a foul on Kirk Broadfoot earned Rotherham a penalty just before the half hour, Clarke-Harris converting from the spot. Lee Frecklington completed the rout 15 minutes from time.
Victories have been few and far between of late for Nottingham Forest, and when Matej Vydra slotted home to put Reading ahead inside a quarter of an hour, City Ground regulars must have been bracing themselves for the possibility of further disappointment. They needn’t have worried. A Nélson Oliveira double helped Forest to run out 3-1 winners following Chris O’Grady’s close-range equaliser, and not even the 65th-minute dismissal of Jack Hobbs for a second bookable defence could dampen Forest spirits as they notched up only their second win in 11 league games.
Elsewhere, Fulham improved markedly after the break to earn a point at home against Preston, Ross McCormack’s free-kick cancelling out Joe Garner’s headed early opener for the visitors. Neil Warnock had Charlie Austin to thank as he recorded the first win of his interim tenure at QPR, the substitute nodding home his eight league goal to put visitors Leeds to the sword. And MK Dons picked up a rare point on the road as Wolves drew a blank at Molineux for the second home game in succession.
League One
Coventry maintained their one-point advantage over Gillingham at the top of League One, but a 2-2 draw at home to Doncaster left them ruing a wasted opportunity to stretch that lead as they were twice pegged back by Nathan Tyson. Adam Armstrong’s first-half opener was cancelled out seven minutes after the break when Tyson pounced on a loose ball. John Fleck subsequently scored from 25 yards to put Tony Mowbray’s side in front for a second time, but a curled effort from Tyson was enough to ensure Darren Ferguson’s men left the Ricoh Arena with a point.
It could have been worse for Coventry, who had Shrewsbury’s James Collins to thank for maintaining their position at the league summit. Collins struck with 20 minutes to go, cancelling out a 2-1 lead for Gillingham at New Meadow.
Third-placed Burton reaped maximum benefit from the travails of the two sides above them, racking up a 5-1 win against Colchester, who are without a manager following the dismissal of Tony Humes. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s team got off to an inauspicious start when Callum Harriott put the visitors in front after four minutes, but struck back impressively through Nasser El Khayati, Mark Duffy, Tom Naylor, Lucas Akins and Timmy Thiele.
Milan Lalkovic hit a late winner against Bradford to ensure Walsall maintained fourth spot, while Wigan stay fifth despite a goalless draw at Southend. A Conor Washington hat-trick enabled Peterborough to reap maximum advantage from Bradford’s defeat, their 4-0 win at Scunthorpe ensuring they displaced the Bantams in sixth.
The afternoon’s other big winners were Swindon, who started the day just above the relegation zone but moved up to 17th courtesy of a 4-0 win at Chesterfield. A Nick Ajose double bookended goals from Louis Thompson and Jonathan Obika.
League Two
While the goals were flying in at the top of League One, it was an altogether tighter afternoon at the sharp end of League Two. That won’t bother Oxford one iota, however. A lone strike from second-half substitute Danny Hylton broke the deadlock at Hartlepool, propelling Michael Appleton’s side to the top of the division.
Only just, mind. Oxford are now one of three sides on 40 points, and top the pile by virtue of a goal difference advantage of just one point. It would all have been different had Plymouth claimed victory at Dagenham & Redbridge. In the event, though, the second-placed visitors were just grateful for an injury-time equaliser from Ryan Brunt, whose late intervention cancelled out Joss Labadie’s second-half opener.
Northampton marked their takeover by Kelvin Thomas with a 2-0 victory over Yeovil that kept them in third spot and stretched their unbeaten league run to eight games. Goals from Lawson D’Ath and Marc Richards ensured the visitors remain bottom of the league.
But while it was a day of relatively fine margins at the top, outside the top three the goals flowed freely. Accrington moved up a place to fourth with a 5-1 win at York, while Cambridge and Carlise both won 3-1 at home, against Notts County and Crawley respectively. Newport won 3-0 at home to Luton, with Oliver McBurnie celebrating his debut with a hat-trick, while Chris Whelpdale of Stevenage also bagged three as his side beat Morecambe 4-3 at Broadhall Way.
